Football Season Guide

Nurnberg appointed the inexperienced Michael Köllner as manager but, as he is hugely popular amongst the players, this might prove to be the right decision. Köllner has worked with many of those in the current squad in the junior formations and they trust him. Nurnberg definitely go for youth ahead of experience this season and, despite the fact that this is unlikely to see them challenging for promotion, the Bavarians can cause many upsets on the way. The health and good condition of the players will be important because Nurnberg don't have a lot of depth, especially in defence and attack. Kirschbaum will be the undisputed new number one after the retirement of veteran, Schafer. Meanwhile, the heart of the defence will be constructed by a duo of Austrians. Margreitter and the newcomer Jager are expected to be preferred ahead of Muhl and Petrak but at least two of these four have a history of suffering regular injuries and there are no other typical centre-backs in the first team. Veteran, Brecko, is likely to have one more season of regular starts in his legs at right-back, while Sepsi is expected to be the first choice down the other flank, where Leibold and Lippert are expected to provide cover. The signing of Valentini is likely to see him replacing Brecko in the back-four when this is needed but the versatile player will most likely be used in a much more advanced role. After spending an entire year out due to knee surgery, the 22-year-old playmaker Erras is ready to shine again and, if he performs as well as he did before his injury, Nurnberg are destined to control proceedings in most of their games. Nurnberg might struggle in attack as they are short on numbers there, plus none of the three strikers are experienced in this division. Big money was paid for the Slovakian, Zrelak, so he could lead the attack but if he fails to adapt quickly or gets injured, the only two other centre forwards Ishak and Teuchert are young and inexperienced.